MacBook Pro Reviews: Apple Gambles With Controversial Touch Bar

The biggest visual difference in the new MacBook Pro machines announced last month was above the keyboard. On the higher-specced thirteen-inch model and the solitary fifteen-inch model, Apple replaced the function keys with a long and thin programmable touchscreen. Called the Touch Bar, it allows for additional controls and information to be presented to the users. Is this a brand new way of interacting with your computer, or a cheap substitute for a full touchscreen?

The design of the Touch Bar enabled MacBook Pro is similar to the function-key enabled machine, but it does serve as a departure from the MacBook Pro chassis design that has been in use for the last five years. Dana Wollman for Engadget:

The new MacBook Pro is a clear departure from the previous generation, but it does look an awful lot like the more recent 12-inch MacBook. Like its stablemate, the new Pro has a unibody aluminum chassis, available in silver and space gray -- a first for the Pro series. As on the smaller MacBook, there's a metal logo on the lid where the glowing Apple used to be. (I don't miss it, to be honest.) The keyboard has the same flat buttons as on the smaller MacBook, and the glass Force Touch trackpad is exactly what you're used to, just a lot bigger this time.

Apart from the Touch Bar, there are some differences in specifications, notably the additional USB-C ports present in the more expensive laptops. The move towards the new standard has seen considerable push-back from the geekerati, with Apple forced to discount the dongle adaptor prices in a bid to retain favour with the masses. Brian Heater notes the changes at TechCrunch:

The loss of the SD slot is likely to have less of a direct impact on more mainstream consumers, but the impact of the move to four uniform USB-C/Thunderbolt 3 ports will be felt almost immediately. For Apple, the update marks a bold step into a future in which USB-C makes up the majority of peripherals. And we’re no doubt moving in that direction. Meantime, adapters. And no, they don’t ship with the system. For early adopters, these sorts of moves can feel as much like a loyalty pledge as a feature set.

The port issue is not the only decision that Apple has made that has caused some eyebrows to be raised. Although it is a 'Pro' machine, many feel that the machines' specifications aren't geared towards professional users. Slash Gear's Chris Davies:

The second controversy is memory. Even a fully maxed-out 15-inch MacBook Pro – which will set you back a cool $4,299 – can’t be had with more than 16GB of RAM. Whether you have 8GB or 16GB, it’s LPDDR3 not the newer, faster LPDDR4: Apple says that’s a power usage decision made in combination with using the “Skylake” chips.

I've been using the new MacBook Pro with Touch Bar for more than a week now, and I have mixed feelings about what it brings to the MacBook experience. In some cases, the Touch Bar’s usefulness is obvious and immediate. But in many others, it’s overly complicated or just plain unnecessary. It’s an addition that very much can improve every MacBook — but it’s going to take some time to get there, if it ever does.

Like any interface, the true value will come from smart developers building new ideas in the Touch Bar, while continuing to honour Apple's style guide and vision. Getting it right is going to be difficult, especially in the first six months of new Touch Bar based apps. Kastrenakes has some good examples where it is going wrong:

But for every smart use of the Touch Bar, there’s another that’s too complicated or entirely meaningless. Often they’re even within the same app, all present on the Touch Bar at once.

Take Mail, for example: I love those quick-firing Archive and Spam buttons. But for some reason, the biggest button on the Touch Bar is used for… folder management!? It’s a puzzling decision; and while some apps let you edit the Touch Bar’s layout, Mail isn’t one of them.

Right now the Touch Bar has promise, but it needs widespread and consistent support from app developers. If that happens, then the Touch Bar can be a success, but without major buy-in it becomes an awkward reminder of failed ambition. Andrew Cunningham illustrates the potential and the pitfalls of the Touch Bar in his Ars Technica review:

The ultimate utility of the Touch Bar is going to depend entirely on the apps you use and, to a lesser extent, how you use your computer. If it’s being used as a desktop with an external keyboard a significant amount of the time, the Touch Bar does nothing for you. When I went out of my way to use Apple’s apps, I liked the Touch Bar a lot. It just takes one or two useful buttons—creating a new tab in Safari, looking up a main page in Terminal, changing font sizes or creating checklists in Notes—to make you glad the Touch Bar is there. However, a typical day for me is spent mostly in Word, Outlook, Slack, Tweetbot, and Chrome. Microsoft is bringing Touch Bar support to Office, but if other app makers don’t start adding in support, a big chunk of that bar is going to end up sitting empty most of the time.

Because of the pent-up demand for a new MacBook Pro, these models are going to continue to sell well, and that should offer developers a wide user base that can hopefully support the increased developer cost. As a first-generation product it's impossible to give a definitive answer on the subject. The reviews of the Touch Bar enabled MacBook Pros have a wider range of opinion. Deciding on a MacBook Pro with the Touch Bar means deciding to support Apple and believing that the ecosystem will follow the guidance of Tim Cook and his team.

Is the Touch Bar worth a gamble? It's an expensive gamble to make, and I think that anyone except the utterly faithful should wait six months to see how the ecosystem react